Ginny and Hermione
by Nargled
Summary: Ginny and Hermione meet to discuss...Harry of course. What are the odds that it goes well? One shot.


Standard disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any related characters. Looked into buying the rights, found I was several billion dollars short. Or, to paraphrase a disclaimer I saw on robst's site, my thanks to Ms. Rowling for allowing all of us to build sandcastles on her beach. Enjoy.

Ginny and Hermione

Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam!

"What the bloody...?" Hermione rolled over in bed and looked blearily at her bedside clock.

3:27.

A.M.

Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam!

Hermione scrambled out of bed and hurried out of her bedroom, snagging a robe and swinging it on as she hurried to the front door of her flat. Whoever it was, it must be important given the time and the volume of the banging.

Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam! came again before she could get there. She opened the door to see the angry face of her friend, Ginny.

"Ginny, what is going..." WHAP! Hermione saw stars and her ears rang before the pain in her left cheek arrived to let her know that Ginny had just slapped the heck out of her. Before she could regain her composure, or her balance, Ginny had shoved her back into the living room and slammed the door. Hermione landed on her bum and skidded back, coming to rest against the couch.

"Alright, where is he?" Ginny yelled.

Hermione shook her head to clear it. "Where is who?"

"Don't give me that!" Ginny yelled again, and stomped off to Hermione's bedroom. "Harry, I know you're here. Get out here!" Finding Hermione's room empty, she stomped off to the den/office, slamming the door open to find this room empty of people as well.

"Oh, dear," said Hermione, as she levered herself up on to the sofa. "Not again." She rubbed her cheek and worked her jaw a few times to loosen it up.

Ginny came stomping back into the living room to stand in front of Hermione, hands on her hips. "Where's Harry?"

Hermione tried to remain calm. "Haven't a clue. Last I saw Harry was when we all had lunch together last week. He left with you, as I recall. Dare I ask why you are here at 3:30 in the morning looking for him?"

This only seemed to make Ginny more angry. "Don't give me that. He left hours ago, saying he needed to find you. So where is he?"

Hermione was finding remaining calm a bit difficult. "Well, this is the first I've heard of it. You seem to have arrived here before him." Hermione didn't think an offer for tea while they waited for Harry to show up would go over very well. Besides, she wasn't feeling very hospitable at the moment. "Now, would you like to explain what the hell is going on and why I deserved a whack to the face, or do I just boot you out?"

Tears were appearing in Ginny's eyes. "We had another row, and Harry left, and it's ALL YOUR FAULT!" Ginny wound up to hit Hermione again.

Hermione had had enough. With a flick and twist of her wrist, her wand dropped out of the disillusioned holster on her forearm. Old habits died hard, and she was never without her wand. Another flick and twist and Ginny was relieved of her wand, bound in rope and sitting in the chair opposite.

Hermione took a deep breath and set Ginny's wand down on the side table. "Right then. How about we begin at the beginning? You will tell me, calmly and in great detail, what happened. Then, I will think about helping you, yet again, to smooth things over."

Ginny struggled against the ropes, getting redder in the face. She opened her mouth to yell at Hermione again.

"Or," said Hermione, pointing her wand at the space in the middle of Ginny's forehead, effectively shutting her up, "I stun you, take you back to your place and dump you in the entry hall, leaving you until someone comes to visit and releases you. Your choice."

Ginny saw the implacable look on Hermione's face and suddenly slumped back, crying. "We had another fight. Harry was being closed off again. The gala at the Ministry is coming up soon, and he doesn't want to go. I was trying to get him excited about it, and we started yelling, and then he just took off. He said he had to find you, then apparated right out of the living room. I came here to find him."

Hermione grimaced. She had hoped Harry could get through a Halloween without another crisis, but apparently not. "I see. And this is my fault how, exactly?" Ginny's explanation had been, despite Hermione's injunction, short on details.

"Because he will talk to you about all this stuff and not to me! He won't let me in! Every time we fight, he comes to you to fix it."

Hermione snorted. "Every time you two fight, BOTH of you end up here eventually. You come too. Kind of like, oh I don't know, _now_. I'm starting to wonder why I bother. And how is the fact that I help BOTH of you work things out responsible for you fighting? If you weren't both such good friends of mine, I would be quite happy to stop and just let things take their course."

"It's not just after we fight, he comes here all the time to 'talk'," Hermione could hear the quotes. "Every time something comes up, Harry heads over to you to sort it out. That's my job. I'm starting to think he loves you more than he loves me." Hermione heard the darker emotions in that last statement. Jealousy, anger... shame? She stared, harder, at Ginny. Ginny blushed and looked down.

"What did you say to him?" Ginny just blushed more and kept looking down. Hermione had a sinking feeling in her stomach. "Ginny, what did you say?"

Ginny's voice was soft, but still very angry. "I said exactly that. I told him if he loved you more than me, maybe he should just leave so he wouldn't have to be sleeping with you behind my back any more."

Hermione blanched. "You said what?!" she yelled, erupting off her seat. "How could you say that? For years, Ginny, I've been patching things up between the two of you, and this is how you repay me?"

"I notice that you haven't denied it, either," Ginny said, glaring.

"Merlin, you're an idiot!" said Hermione, exasperated. She raised her wand. "I swear on my magic that Harry and I have never had sex." There was a slight glow around her, then she cast a stinging hex, just missing Ginny's head. "Satisfied?" Ginny nodded, her anger deflating. "Good, now we can focus on what's important. Like how you're a complete and total idiot!"

Hermione started pacing. "I can't believe you accused Harry of that. You know he has trust issues, and you know why. Earning his trust is a rare thing, and it is central to him to be trustworthy to others. Then you accuse him of violating the trust that is at the very foundation of your relationship." Hermione's voice was rising in pitch and volume again. "If you had wanted to utterly destroy him on purpose, this is what you would do! Can you understand that?"

Ginny just nodded, looking down, tears falling off her cheeks. "Oh, Ginny, I don't know if you could have bollixed things up worse. This is terrible."

"I know that!" Ginny yelled. "That's why I'm trying to find Harry. We have to fix this!"

Hermione stared at Ginny again. Anger at Ginny warred with sadness about the mess her friends were in. Something had to change, significantly, or this would just happen yet again, and soon. But did she really want to help them? It never seemed to solve anything in the long run. And after what Ginny said to Harry and her... She saw the tears continuing to trickle down Ginny's face. She caved. "Fine," she said. "But this is the last time I'm helping you with Harry. It doesn't seem to do much good anyway. After this, you're on your own." Another flick of her wand and Ginny was released. "Follow me," she said and walked off to the den. Ginny looked surprised, then hurried to catch up.

Hermione pointed to the sofa just inside the door. "Sit." Ginny, seeing the look on Hermione's face, sat without a word on the sofa along the wall to the left of the door. A desk was under the window to the right. The other two walls were covered by built in shelves, stacked tight with books and small knickknacks. Hermione closed the door, then sealed it and applied privacy charms to the whole room. "Not a word about any of this outside this room. Not even to Harry until I talk to him first. He will probably hate me for this and might not talk to me again, but if something doesn't change between the two of you..." Ginny looked confused.

Hermione waved her wand at the center rank of bookshelves on the wall in front of Ginny. The books shimmered and disappeared to reveal racks and racks of small crystal vials holding silvery liquid. Some of the vials had a blue, red, green or gold band around the neck. A vase became a small shallow stone bowl. Ginny recognized that it was a pensieve.

"What...?" began Ginny, starting to get up. Hermione's arm flashed and once again her wand was pointed at the bridge of Ginny's nose. She clamped her mouth shut and sat back on the sofa.

"This is the result of hours of work. Hours and hours. More hours than I can count. These are copies of memories from Harry. We view them, and work our way through them. Top shelf is from his childhood with the Dursleys. Second shelf is Hogwarts. Third shelf is our, um, year off school and the battle. Bottom two shelves are the last few years, mostly about you. Green stripe is for something significant about you, blue stripe for big public events, red for significantly bad emotional events, gold for happy events." Hermione noted that there was less gold and more red as you went down the shelves.

As Hermione talked, Ginny's anger rose again. "This is exactly what I'm talking about! Why is he doing this with you instead of me? He should be coming to me for all of...that!" she said, waving her hand at the shelves of vials.

"Ginny, Harry usually comes here after he tries to talk to you about 'all of that' and it doesn't work out well. He has a lot to cope with, and struggles with it every day."

"Oh, give me a break. He's rich, he's famous, he doesn't have to work if he doesn't want to but has a job he likes, and he's got me and my family to support him. He just needs to lighten up a bit and everything would be fine."

Hermione stared at Ginny with a sinking feeling. She was beginning to doubt that she was going to get through to her. "Right then. Let's view the memories we've looked at most recently and see what you think." Hermione pulled open a thick leather bound book and flipped to the back. She looked at the third to last entry, then waved her wand at the top shelf. A small vial floated down. Hermione grabbed it, and poured it into the pensieve. She tapped a series of runes around the edge. The surface of the liquid roiled and rose up to form an image of a park. The colors settled down, and the memory began.

A very young Harry sat in the last swing, toeing himself back and forth in small arcs. At the other end of the swings, a father was pushing a little girl in her swing, while her mother stood in front and tried to grab her toes each time she swung forward, eliciting peals of laughter. The sadness on Harry's face was clear to see. The image morphed into Harry being yelled at by Vernon, for something presumably that Dudley had done, and being hauled down the hall by his arm to be thrown into the cupboard under the stairs. The image blurred a little again, and refocused to see Harry still in his cupboard, looking out through the grille, watching the Dursleys. Vernon was reading the paper, Dudley was staring at the telly, Petunia was cleaning, telling Vernon how well Dudley had done while out shopping that day for new, larger clothes. Vernon would just grunt occasionally when there was a pause in her monologue. The image faded and the liquid settled down into the pensieve again. Hermione stirred the liquid with her wand, gathering up the memory, and maneuvered it back into its vial before levitating it back up to its rack on the shelf. She turned to Ginny, and raised an eyebrow in question.

"So life at the Durleys' sucked. We know that. Harry and I have talked about that before. I've offered to hex or curse them all, but he won't let me. He doesn't have to go back there ever again. So why is he bringing it all up with you again?" Ginny asked.

Hermione sighed. "Harry was thinking about what it would be like to be a father someday. He's worried about being a good parent, and worries that he has never had a good role model to follow, only having had the Dursleys to learn from."

Ginny snorted. "He's nothing like the Dursleys. He's brave and kind and strong. He's got nothing to worry about. Besides, he's been coming to the Burrow for years, he can see how a normal family operates anytime. And I'm sure my mum and dad would answer any questions he might have." Her face softened, "Was he really thinking about having a family with me?" she asked, looking up at Hermione hopefully.

"You and he have been together for a few years now. It was inevitable that Harry would think about the future," Hermione said, not quite answering the question. Ginny didn't seem to notice and had a pleased smile on her face. Hermione thought over what Ginny had said. All perhaps true, and defendable. At the same time, all of it wrong. None of it what Harry needed.

"Right, then. Let's look at another one." Hermione didn't have to look in the book to find this one. It had green, red and blue around its neck, near the very bottom of the shelves. "It's from a few weeks ago, when the invitations for the Halloween Ball first arrived. I believe Harry was trying to tell you why he didn't want to go?" The last was a question to Ginny.

Ginny scowled. "That's right. I don't know why he hates these things. He.."

Hermione interrupted. "Let's look at the memory, shall we?"

Ginny humphed to herself, but sat back and was quiet.

The liquid swirled and the memory played. It was in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place. Harry was at the table, reading the post. An official looking letter was in his hand.

"What do you have there, dear?" Ginny asked.

Harry had a carefully neutral look on his face. "The Ministry Halloween Ball invitation came."

"Oh good, I was wondering when they would get sent out. It's coming up the end of next month." said Ginny. "We should go shopping for new robes. Has anyone else said that they were going?" She saw that Harry was not sharing her enthusiasm. "What's wrong?" she asked, frowning a little.

Harry sighed. "You know I don't like these things. I would just as soon not go."

"Harry," Ginny said gently smiling, "You kind of have to go. You're the whole reason they put these on."

Harry grimaced. "That really doesn't make me feel any better, you know."

"Harry, you go through this every year. You always feel like this beforehand, and you always end up going, and you always have a good time." Harry grimaced again at that. "Fine, you have an okay time. But it's important that you go. People like to celebrate, want to thank you for what you've done. Not many people have saved the world twice from an evil wizard."

"If that's what it was, then fine. But now it's just politics, and showing off, and being seen. No one wants to thank me, really, they just want to stand by me and shake my hand and have a photo taken, or try to get me to endorse whatever they are doing or selling. People died fighting Voldemort, good people, and all everyone seems to care about is that somehow I didn't. I don't need two parties a year reminding me of that."

"Well, I for one am very glad that you didn't die. If you want, we can leave early and go do something by ourselves. That sound okay?"

Harry grumbled a bit to himself. "Yeah, that would be fine. Thanks."

The memory collapsed back into the pensieve and Hermione gathered it up and put it back on the shelf. She looked at Ginny expectantly.

"What? What's wrong with that? I thought that went great. We talked about it, and reached a compromise."

Hermione gathered her thoughts. Again, all true. And again, all beside the point.

"All true. However, perhaps not the central issue. My advice, for what it's worth, is that you allow him to express himself fully before you work for the compromise. Harry will always compromise, and I think that is part of the problem. He.." she was interrupted by Ginny.

"So, what, you're telling Harry not to compromise with me? How is that going to help us get along better? And just what was the 'central issue' then?"

"No, I'm not telling Harry not to compromise with you. I'm telling Harry not to compromise without letting his needs being known first. If he doesn't let you know what his needs are, whatever compromise is reached will be a false one that he can't be happy with, and if he doesn't let you know what his needs are you can't help or understand him. You and I have talked before about being patient with him when he's talking about things. He needs time to get things out, sometimes a day or two."

"As far as the central issue goes," she said before Ginny could interrupt again, "I will just ask this: What does Halloween mean for Harry?"

"That's easy, it's the day Voldemort came after him, the day Harry defeated him the first time."

"Ginny," Hermione said sadly, "that's what _happened_ on Halloween, but it's not what it _means_ to Harry. When you find Harry, I suggest you ask him."

"So you're going to sit there all smug and not tell me?" Ginny asked angrily.

Hermione found herself getting angry in response. She took a deep breath before answering. "Me telling you is not going to fix things, Ginny. You figuring out that you need to ask him these things, and him telling you, is. So ask him, not me."

Ginny glared at her for a moment. "Fine, I will. Anything else not so helpful you want to show me?"

Hermione stared at Ginny for a moment. She wasn't sure this was helping matters any. But she had decided to try to help one last time, so... She didn't need the book for the last one. The vial came from the second shelf, labeled with a green and red stripe. Hermione poured it in.

' "Ginny, listen…..." he said very quietly, as the buzz of conversation grew louder around them and people began to get to their feet, "I can't be involved with you anymore. We've got to stop seeing each other. We can't be together."

She said, with an oddly twisted smile, "It's for some stupid, noble reason, isn't it?"

"It's been like…like something out of someone else's life, these last few weeks with you," said Harry. "But I can't…we can't…I've got things to do alone now."

She did not cry, she simply looked at him.

"Voldemort uses people his enemies are closet to. He's already used you as bait once, and that was just because you're my best friend's sister. Think how much danger you'll be in if we keep this us'. He'll know, he'll find out. He's try and get to my through you."

"What if I don't care?" said Ginny fiercely.

"I care," said Harry. "How do you think I'd feel if this was your funeral…and it was my fault…"

She looked away from him, over the lake.

"I never really gave up on you," she said. "Not really. I always hoped…Hermione told me to get on with life, maybe go out with some other people, relax a bit around you, because I never used to be able to talk if you were in the room, remember? And she thought you might take a bit more notice if I was a bit more—myself."

"Smart girl, that Hermione," said Harry, trying to smile. "I just wish I'd asked you sooner. We could've had ages…months…years maybe…"

"But you've been too busy saving the Wizarding world," said Ginny, half laughing. "Well…I can't say I'm surprised. I knew this would happen in the end. I knew you wouldn't be happy unless you were hunting Voldemort. Maybe that's why I like you so much." '1

Ginny looked up at Hermione in astonishment. "That rates its own vial? That's nothing! That's me telling Harry I understand what he's doing and why, and that I support him. How can that be bad?"

"It's not bad, Ginny, none of these are necessarily bad, they're just significant. And Harry understands what you intended to say. But he worries about what you didn't intend to say."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"First is the obvious one. Harry struggles, with everyone, all the time, on being Harry, not the boy-who-lived, or the boy-who-won, or whatever other hyphenated title they make up and pin on him. That made him unsure again whether you liked Harry for Harry or for the myth and legend. You need to make sure that you always keep that in mind. Secondly," she continued before Ginny could interrupt, "Harry had just told you that at 16 years old, he knew for sure, not just that it seemed like or kept happening, but knew for sure that someone was coming after him to kill him and would do anything to anyone to accomplish that. A muggle raised sixth year with average grades against the most powerful and evil wizard in centuries, and that his only hope was to kill him first."

Ginny stared at her with her mouth open for nearly a minute. "You got all that out of that little memory?" she asked incredulously. "Are you nuts? That's the craziest thing I've ever heard." Hermione blinked in surprise. Ginny stood up and began pacing about the small room, getting angrier by the moment. "No wonder Harry's not getting any better, you're putting these stupid ideas in his head, making himself doubt everything and everyone, even me." Ginny whirled to face Hermione. "Is that what you're trying to do? Make Harry doubt everyone but you? Are you trying to make him dependent on you?" Ginny advanced, to stand right in her face. "I think you're trying to sabotage any relationship he has except the one with you, so you can have him all to yourself!"

Hermione stood, gobsmacked. So many thoughts and feelings were careening about in her head she didn't know which to latch onto. Hurt and anger vied for first. Doubt was suddenly a close second, but that would come later. "Get out," she said, all the more scary for how quiet she was. "Get out and don't come back. I said this was the last time I was going to help you, and I mean it. From now on, you're on your own."

"You'd better believe I'm going!" shouted Ginny. "And I'm happy to not come back! Don't expect to see Harry again, either. Once I get him away from you, we'll be fine!" Ginny stormed out of the office, and grabbing her wand from the side table she left, putting a hole in the wall with the doorknob from flinging the door open so hard. Hermione could hear her stomping down the hallway, then the stairs, then a bang and rattle of the front door as she headed for the alley to apparate away.

Hermione quietly closed her door without looking in the hall to see who was peeking out. She hoped no one, as it was still early. She made it to the kitchen to make tea before the tears came, but come they did, and she slid to the floor in the corner of the cabinets, sobbing. Sad for the possible loss of two of her best friends. She was besieged by doubt. Was she really trying to keep Harry for herself, make him dependent on her? She didn't think so, but was she doing it subconsciously? She thought she was just helping her best friend with his struggles. She wasn't a counselor, was she meddling with things she shouldn't? Had she just made things worse? Was she seeing things that weren't really there, creating demons rather than exorcising them? She had been so sure that she was helping, but now she doubted herself. Maybe it was best that they stayed away for a while. Maybe they could find their way without her input? Interference? She hoped that things with Ginny would blow over and they could still be friends, but for the first time she wasn't sure. Things had never been this bad before.

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Some unmeasurable amount of time later, the sobs stopped. She wiped her eyes and her nose on the sleeve of her robe. She looked up at the clock, 06:50. Past time to get up anyway. There was no way in hell she was going to work. It was Thursday, she would call in sick for a couple of days and have a long weekend. She put the kettle on, and went to shower. Back in her robe with a towel on her head, she made tea and waited for the time when her secretary would be at work. On the second try at floo calling, she reached her. She would be reachable by owl, but not otherwise. Yes, cell phone, but no one at work used those anyway. No, not by floo, she probably wouldn't be at home. No, nothing serious, she just didn't feel well and needed a few days off. Yes, she would get some rest.

Hermione sat on the sofa with her tea. The silence of her flat seemed oppressive, rather than relaxing like it usually was. She needed to get out, but didn't know where to go. She thought of her parents, but didn't feel like talking to them just yet. Maybe in a day or two. Ginny's was certainly out. Harry's... Harry! She would have to warn him about Ginny and apologize in advance for sharing his memories. Or if Ginny found him first, apologize twice. She grabbed pen and paper and wrote him a brief note, rolling it up when she was done. She would have to stop by the owl post. That accomplished, she still had to decide what to do. She was getting more restless. She needed to get away, from here, from everyone. A faint memory of a peaceful place popped up in the back corner of her mind. She thought for a moment, then decided to give it a try. It was only an apparation away, or back, if it didn't suit her.

She went to her room and got dressed in warm clothes. She rooted around in the depths of her closet before she found one of her old bags, and tossed a few more items in. Returning to the main room, she looked around for anything else she would need. The hole in the wall was still there, and she fixed it with a wave of her wand. Nothing else was needed, and things would keep for a few days. She put on her coat and hat, but stopped on the way to the door with a sudden thought. Harry might stop by while she was gone. She penned another quick note and folded it up. On her way out, she stuck the note to the door with a sticking charm and a notice-me-not charm keyed to Harry. She locked the door and headed out.

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Hermione sat in a conjured chair in front of her camp fire in the Forest of Dean. It was Saturday morning, and she was enjoying her tea. The air was cool but not cold, and the fall leaves were still beautiful and on the trees. The rains had not started yet, so the river was low and clear, and made a soothing noise as it flowed over the rocks. Sleep had come late Thursday, but she slept in Friday. She had popped home Friday night for dinner and couple more items, but came back in time for sunset and some more time in front of the fire. Today she felt drained, but peaceful. She had quit looking up at every slight noise to see if it was Harry. That would fix itself when it fixed itself. She hoped.

She went back into the tent for another cup of tea. It was the end of the pot. That was okay, she was planning on packing up and heading to her parents' house for lunch and the rest of the weekend. She felt ready to talk to her mother now. She added the last of the wood to the fire and settled back down into her chair. The flicker of the flames was almost hypnotic, keeping the turmoil in her brain to a minimum, and was warm on her legs and face. She was near the end of her tea and had almost dozed off again when there was the quiet 'pop' of someone apparating. She dropped her cup and her wand was in her hand even before she looked up. She lowered it and sat back.

"Hi, Harry," she said in a quiet voice.

He waved his wand, widening her chair into a double. He sat down beside her. "Hi, Hermione."

Hermione leaned forward and picked up her cup. "That was the last of the tea. Should I make more?"

Harry stared into the fire. "That's OK. Nice fire."

They sat in silence for a bit. "I'm sorry," Hermione said. Harry just grunted. "You okay?"

"Eh."

They sat in silence again.

"What happened?" Hermione asked at last.

Harry sat for a bit more. "I was out walking around for several hours, trying to clear my head. I eventually went back to my place. Ginny found me there. She was still...upset. Both at me and at you. It took me a bit to figure out what she was going on about. Seems that she thinks that you are sabotaging our relationship, in order to keep me for yourself, and that if I quit listening to you I'll be better." He stopped abruptly with that, and they sat in silence again.

"Harry, I.." Hermione faltered. She didn't know what to say.

"It's alright, Hermione. I got your letter. I know why you did what you did, even before your letter came. You did it for me. I'm not hiding any of those things from Ginny, she's just pants at helping me with them."

They stared at the settling fire some more. "I'm glad you came," Hermione said at last.

"Wasn't much of a clue you left on your door. But you're right. It's peaceful here, no matter what is going on in the rest of the world."

"I figured you would get it."

The fire was turning into coals, hissing quietly. "So now what?"

"Ginny and I are done..."

Hermione grabbed his hand. "I'm so sorry, Harry..."

"It's okay, really," he said, patting her hand. "It seems we've been practicing for this for months now. She discounted all the help you've given me, then gave me an ultimatum. Stop talking with you or else."

"That doesn't mean you and she had to end it."

"It does, actually. First because she imposed the choice on me. Second, once I had to think about choosing, I knew what I could live without, and what I couldn't. What you have done for me is for a lifetime. I would be a gibbering idiot without you, drunk in an alley somewhere, or locked up in St. Mungo's. You are my best friend. Ginny and I only made it this far because of your help, which became brutally clear during our conversation."

Hermione scooted next to Harry and wrapped her arms around his. "What did she say this time?" she asked, slipping into analyst mode.

Harry smiled thinly. Same old Hermione. "Apparently you told her to ask what Halloween actually means to me." It was a question.

"I did, though I had hoped she would have managed some subtlety about it."

Harry snorted. "Fat chance of that. So I wasn't subtle in my answer. I told her it was the anniversary of my parents' death, and I could never understand growing up why the whole magical world celebrated their death every year."

"And..?"

"She said I was wrong, that they were celebrating the death of old Tom and that I survived."

"And..?"

"So she's right and wrong at the same time again. Of course I know, now, that people really aren't celebrating that my parents died that night. But how I felt, and feel about it now, is a separate matter, and I still think my parents' sacrifice is overlooked. She doesn't have to agree with me, but she won't even acknowledge my points or treat them seriously, or that there could be more than one side to the issue. It's just how she sees the world. If your talk the other day couldn't get her to operate differently, nothing will."

"So how did it end?"

"Just about like that. I told her she just didn't understand me, and that it wasn't going to work out. She blames you of course, and me. Couldn't be her fault. She says I'll regret my decision and come crawling back someday, but she's not sure she'll take me back."

"What do you think about all that?"

"I think that it's over between us for good. I think that if feeling that she is the victim makes things easier for her I'm not to take it away from her. I think I need to thank you for everything that you have done for me over the years." He leaned back to look at her. "So, thank you."

"Of course, Harry," she said, giving his arm another squeeze. Harry lifted it free of her grip and draped it around her shoulders, and she leaned her head against him. The coals were burning out, and were no longer quite enough to fight off the chill.

"So now what?" asked Harry.

Hermione sighed. "Well, I was planning on heading to my parents' house for today and tomorrow. I had thought I would be spending a lot of time with my mum and a box of tissues talking about how I had lost my best friend." Harry tightened his arm in a brief hug. "It seems I will have to change my plans a bit. Would you come visit my folks with me?" she asked hopefully.

"Are you sure? I don't want to intrude."

"Harry, they would love to see you again. I can leave the tent set up here if you don't want to stay, but you are invited for the rest of the weekend. We've got lots of room."

Harry thought, staring at the remaining coals. "Alright, I'll come. I don't know how long I'll stay, but I'll come."

"Good," said Hermione, standing. She offered Harry a hand and pulled him up. "You put out the fire, I'll seal up the tent."

She came out a few minutes later with her bag and charmed the tent shut. She added a couple more wards to the area, then turned to Harry. The fire had been put out thoroughly. He was smiling at something. "What?" she asked.

Harry nodded to the small beaded bag. "Still useful, that."

"Hmm, yes. Never really unpacked it fully. Came in handy when I decided I wanted to get away for a bit." She held out her hand, and he took it. "Ready?" she asked. Harry pulled her in for a full hug. "Sure." There was a small 'pop' and then silence.

A/N: 1) 1 From _Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince_ by JK Rowling, Scholastic Press, 2005, chapter 30, pages 646-7 in my book.

2) For some H/Hr fans, that scene at the funeral in the third memory above is the holy grail as it were of why Ginny is not for Harry. Personally, I thought it was well written and one of their better scenes, and showed how Ginny really did understand Harry. I reference the conversation between Harry and Dumbledore about the prophecy. Harry would do what he had to regardless of the prophecy because of who he was, and Ginny knew this and liked it. This is my poke at how small tidbits in the series can be overanalyzed and how the 'shipping wars' can get truly silly. But it still got me a story. :) I tried to make both Hermione and Ginny as 'right' as possible, and show that there is not a single 'right' answer to many situations. Harry does truly need to lighten up, but has a lot of healing that he needs to go through. Ginny really needed more exposure and Harry time in the novels. Hermione needs to quit thinking so much.

3) The pensieve and memory idea came from apAidan's _Twas The Day Before Christmas_. It was only hinted at there, but I thought it should be explored. For those not opposed to H/Hr, apAidan's works are very well done and enjoyable.


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